(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for processing silver halide color photosensitive materials, in particular to a processing method which makes it possible to suppress the increase in turbidity due to the proliferation of bacteria and propagation of mold in a washing bath even when the processing is continuously conducted while substantially saving the amount of washing water, and which provides an excellent processed photosensitive material.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Recently, it has been proposed to reduce the amount of washing water used in water washing and other processes for processing silver halide photosensitive materials, in view of environmental protection, exhaustion of water resources and economical merits. For example, one of such techniques for reducing the amount of washing water is proposed by S. R. Goldwasser in his article entitled Water Flow Rates in Immersion-Washing of Motion Picture Film, Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, 1955, Vol. 64, pp. 248-253 in which saving of the amount of washing water is achieved by employing a multistage washing system including the use of a plurality of washing tanks and countercurrently passing water therethrough. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,324 discloses another method comprising directly transferring bleached and fixed photosensitive materials to stabilization process without passing them through washing process to save the amount of washing water. These methods have been adopted in different kinds of automatic processors as an effective means for water saving.
However, if the water saving is effected without implementing any other countermeasures, the retention time of water in the washing bath is substantially increased, which results in the proliferation of bacteria and in turn causes the formation of suspended matters and thus an increase in the turbidity of washing water. Moreover, various molds are liable to proliferate.
Such proliferation of bacteria and molds lowers the quality of the processed color photosensitive materials because of the deposition of bacteria and molds caused during the water washing process. In addition, the proliferation of bacteria and molds causes problems such that circulating pumps and filters which are disposed for such baths as the washing and stabilizing baths become clogged within a very short time and that the water becomes foul and produces a bad smell.
In order to solve such problems, many attempts have been made, for example, Japanese Patent Un-examined Publication No. 57-8542 proposes a method which comprises adding an antibacterial or antifungus agent such as isothiazolone type agents, or benzoisothiazolone type agents to the washing and/or stabilizing bath.
The addition of such an antibacterial or antifungus agent is effective for solving the foregoing problems. However, the presence thereof in these baths may impair the safety of the working environment since they are heated in the drying process and evaporate into the ambient atmosphere. Therefore, an extra investment is required for installing an exhaust system or the like. Moreover, the use of these antibacterial and/or antifungus agents causes side effects. For example they make the processed photosensitive materials quite sticky and these materials are liable to adhere to one another or to other materials. Thus, there has not yet been proposed a processing method for silver halide photosensitive materials which can completely eliminate the foregoing problems.